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The woods are still very skiable. Actually in a way more skiable than they were when the snow was 3" deep, because now I can ski anywhere and even on my non-edged long diagonal-stride skis I can cut gradual-to-moderate telemark turns, which are all I need for the slopes I run into out there.﻿

The kind of listening we're trained to do in school and at work is passive listening. Sit still. Get through it. Figure out what's going to be on the test and ignore the rest. Your eyes can glaze over, but...

Yes, he is talking about something different. He probably should have used a different word. You are talking about a therapy technique, for allowing people to feel heard more than for understanding some abstract concept that they are trying to communicate. Both are important, depending on the circumstances.﻿

A great example of this balance is in Prelude 10, which I'm used to hearing played as a facile excercise. Kimiko's performance starts from a playful reading of the opening theme, and transitions into a simply amazing Presto that is so "rock star", it might as well be concluded by smashing a guitar and biting the head off a bat.

I think listening to the performance of the first Prelude gives you a taste of what is coming: Ms Ishizaka plays it with a very careful emphasis that forces the listener to hear the eschersque symmetry of the arpeggios. Listening to this performance is like seeing an two dimensional image you've seen hundreds of times before suddenly in three dimensions, or a black and white photo suddenly in color.﻿

Just in time for Bach's 330th birthday this weekend, I got a review copy of the new "Open" Well Tempered Klavier from Kimiko Ishizaka. This recording is as interesting socially as it is musically. In a joint effort with Bösendorfer, Musescore, and Teldex Studio in Berlin, pianist Kimiko Ishizaka ...

I finally got a picture of this tree. It's under the lift line on the mid-mountain lift at Sugarbush's Mt. Ellen area. In order to take this picture you have to ski down a very steep section with some exposed rocks, and I hadn't been able to get there until this year because I am just not a banzai skier, so I had to get to the point where I could ski down that steep bit without feeling like I was taking chances. And then my cell phone died because Android 5.01 had killed my battery, so I didn't get the picture. Now, with a new battery and an older version of Android, I was able to get the shot.

The conditions are still quite good, but I think we're starting to get to the point where it's spring skiing and you don't want to go out if it's below freezing. That's not the case yet up north, but it's coming soon. Spring is coming soon too, but you couldn't tell that today—it's snowing. Andrea's tomato plant is thriving, despite the snow in the background. :)﻿

We had a nice pretty snowfall yesterday, but today (or maybe yesterday) the garge roof let go and dumped its entire load, completely burying the walkway to the point where you can't even see the railings except at the very top. The house has a cold roof and has not dropped any of its snow load yet, but the snow is slowly evaporating away from the edges, so even if we get the 6" that wunderground is currently speculating about on Saturday, we should be okay.﻿

Yeah, I have to say that when I think of enlightenment none of those examples come up for me either. To me those are all examples of samsara. Father Yod is so unsatisfied that he tries to fill the void with his pool; Tom Cruise was a massive success early on and got sucked into a cult, and lives in a mansion, and is completely unsatisfied.

I got into Buddhism because I had managed to get everything that seemed obviously gettable to me, and I was not particularly happy, and I could see that I was experiencing a very good scenario compared to what the people around me were experiencing, and it was just not ok. So to me enlightenment is seeing to it that everyone has what they want, and no-one is suffering, where everyone includes me. But it has to be more than just a science fiction world with rejuvenation drugs and limitless stuff, because that doesn't help with mental pain or a lack of joy.

I don't think this is a particularly male fantasy.

And yes, I have been wondering where the women are too. Like, why is it so hard to get Agent Carter renewed? That's just weird.﻿

One of the benefits of strengthening international systems is that it can create allies to help bring pressure to bear on those who resist cooperating. At the very least, it can create a negotiating forum to find common ground, figuring out what countries are willing to share and under what circumstances. ﻿